When YHVH created Man, he had originally created them as a pair; Adam (Man) and Lilith (Woman), each two extremes that represented YHVH's own facets. To understand Adam and Lilith was to understand, in part, their Creator; the El aspect, that of Order; and the Asherah aspect, that of Chaos. In effect YHVH is his own Yin and Yang; being two diametrically opposed forces intertwined and balanced as one. And by understanding the natures of YHVH's creations, one can also see how, seperate, they were doomed to be forever in conflict.

Adam, controlling, and Lilith, eager to be wild and free, were never to be a couple. From the moment of their first breaths, Adam demanded control and submission, while Lilith questioned his right. Adam could not even claim divine right, for it was Lilith's ear that YHVH whispered into, telling her the secret of his True Name.

Despite their differences Adam could not resist his beautiful equal, and together they had seven children; the first circle of humans, like Lilith herself, not mentioned in the Bible. But these differences inevitably turned violent, and Lilith invoked the True Name, fleeing the Garden of Eden.

Adam, incensed, demanded she return, and three angels were deployed to bring her back, against her will. For this refusal they proclaimed that Lilith's 100 descendents (they had multiplied several generations by this point) would be killed daily; misworded by the Alphabet of Ben Sirah to say that one hundred of her children would be killed daily, which is simply absurd. Such a rate would decimate even the vast jinn and angels in a few short centuries.

However, as Lilith's crime was much different than that of Adam and Eve, her and her progeny were spared the fate of mortality; Adam and Eve created the gravest crime of not only disobeying YHVH, but of also believing the word of a jinn over that of the Creator. And once Adam returned to the dust from which he was formed and Eden lost, the curse over Lilith's progeny was lifted. What was not lifted, however, was their immortality.

Lilith's children might well consider that a punishement of its own, especially those eldest Lilu, who watched their kind become demonized and hunted throughout history.

Lilith herself allowed her children to run their own affairs, being somewhat shameful of the fate of daily death she brought upon them, and consorted with another of YHVH's outcasts; the Angel of Light, Lucifer. Though she did not share in his cause to overthrow God, neither did she oppose it. Lilith may have been loyal to the end toward YHVH, far unlike her "replacement" in Eve, but had grown bitter toward the Creator for his punishment of her children over a simple, heartfelt desire to be free.

Ironically in Lucifer did Lilith do YHVH's work, the desire to create a likeness of His own aspects. Lucifer, like the brilliant El, and Lilith, like the fiece Asherah, formed a sort of "mirror" of YHVH; in occult circles this union is symbolized as the Baphomet, the androgynous goat-entity.

Lilith and her children, known as the lilu, remained spiteful of Adam and his mortal descendents and fought them at every turn. But as mortals multiplied exponentially, vastly outnumbering the lilu; it would be a losing battle. Though unkillable, lilu could not fight the all of the hosts the most primitive mortal tribes and kingdoms assembled.

Fear only drove the mortals to fight harder, and the lilu would be engraved upon the face of human memory forever. Even when the lilu began preying upon human victims, as opposed to fighting them on open ground, that memory was only further emblazoned, and parents terrified their children of wild, exaggerated tales of blood-drinking demons striking in the night.

Loss of the Elders

The lilu lingered on without their Mother, ruled by the Circle of Seven, struggling to exist in a world of humans and preternatural oddities. While the Lilu could not die, this in itself proved a bit of a liability, as they could be captured and tortured without end.

The lilu Elders continued Lilith's campaign of petty retribution against the humans, a war of bitter wrath eventually evolving into hunting for sport. This greatly influenced mortal myth over the centuries, as the penchant for lilu magi to capture mortal souls, combined with the frightening tendency of Lilu to consume the blood of their victims; both done to replenish the Lilu's own spiritual energy.

When the Nephilim were spawned by angelic meddling, the lilu had a powerful new competitor on the young earth; great wars were waged between the lilu and the Nephilim, ending with the Nephilim's inevitable defeat at the hands of the Seven Archangels. But this did not occur before the Nephilim were able to corner and capture the Circle, every one of them, and magically imprison them.

The lilu, led by their next eldest; Nizarah Arak and Damal Mur, searched desperately for their leaders while even fighting the fantastically powerful Nephilim and beating them back. They did not succeed before YHVH destroyed the world with the Flood, but being True Immortals did not die permenantly in the massive torrent. They were reborn after the waters resided, and were able to flee across the virgin land before Noah's descendents found them.

Damal and Nizarah became the new rulers of the Lilu, and declared that they would strive toward locating the true rulers when possible, and fighting their enemies when not. By order of the Rulers, the immortals dispersed throughout the world, scattering and living mundane lives. Some lived as paupers, some as princes, some as pirates. For the lilu, it was time to live their unending lives for living, while their distant rulers led the cause of finding their true rulers; or at least appeared to. But being who they are, preternatural concerns chased the lilu wherever they went.

Besides the typical meddling jinn and other creatures seeking to manipulate them, mortal sorcerers would seek out the secrets of the lilu, or attempt to magically control them. Further, organizations such as the Ordo Procella obviously saw such supernaturals as the lilu dangerous, and added them to their targets.

While some lilu have raised concern over Nizarah and Damal's inability to locate the seven Elders, others appear to have grown to support their leadership; it is the untold truth within the scattered global community of lilu that "finding" their true leaders has been put on an indefinite hold. But to understand why, one must know of the Elders themselves.

Many within the lilu, Nizarah and Damal foremost amongst them, blame the Elders for their kind's demonization amongst mortal kind, giving rise to the ancient blood-drinking demon legend and more modern vampire myths. The Elders were warlike, agressive, and had no respect for human life; rather than integrate, as the Lilu did under their current rulers, they fought mortals and even kept some tribes as slave-cattle.

While one would be loathe to call the decadant Nizarah and Damal "reformers", one must admit that their policies are more agreeable than those of the Elders.

Much has been said on the history and origins of the lilu, but little of who they truly are, and what separates them from mortal kind. Most every preternatural expert knowledgeable about the lilu will agree that without question they are the origin of the vampire myth; tales of blood-drinking, undying creatures and demons are as old as human civilization itself, and much of these are based around various documented actions of lilu throughout the world; with some modification from culture to culture.

But this does demand a question be raised; are lilu literally blood drinkers, or is this allegory for their bloodthirsty nature? A question commonly asked, and one that can be positively answered. There have been many documented cases of lilu drinking blood, often during a particularly brutal battle or as part of a folk tale. This is not, ironically enough, connected to some savage spite for humans, although said spite does handily explain their lack of moral qualms over the practice.

Rather, the consumption of blood, along with the occasional binding of an unfortunate mortal's soul, are for no other reason than to replenish the inner spirit energy of the lilu perpetrator. Blood is a well known conduit of spirit energy, just as it is for the processed nutrients that fuel one's body, and consuming that blood is a way for Lilu or even mortal practitioners of magic to replish or boost that energy within themselves. In the particular case of lilu, their ability to regenerate wounds is tied to this ability, as is arguably their ability to stay youthful and physically healthy.

Lilu are not "undead" in the popular culture sense; they are merely incapable of dying on a permenant basis. Methods of staking alleged "vampires" can prevent a lilu from continuing to function, but once said stake were removed the lilu would resume life. Burning them to ash has no effect, as lilu reform after a certain period of complete disintegration of their forms; so long as the spirit remains in this world, and not bound through rituals or Words of Creation.

By all available accounts the vampires of myth simply do not exist, as opposed to the accepted account of lilu driving such myths by their actions. More probable, so-called "vampires" are merely mortals that use occult rituals and ingestion of blood to remain forever youthful, such as the infamous example of the Countess Báthory Erzsebet demonstrates.

Also running counter to the vampire myth is the fact that lilu do not display any sort of "powers", beyond use of the same magic that mortals access. The chief and possibly sole trait of the lilu is their status as true Immortals, with their strength and vast knowledge simply being the result of millenia of life. But as lilu such as Nizarah, Damal, and others demonstrate; immortality, and the knowledge and experience that comes with it, are very powerful things in their own right. Nizarah herself represents one of the more powerful magic users alive, and certainly the most learned and experienced in supernatural affairs.

Immortality and Psychology

One of the most intriguing aspects of such immortality is how individual lilu cope with it. While there is no magic user within the Seven Crowns younger than four centuries, due to varying methods of magical life extension, they are still mortal; and none know how long they can extend their lives, before succumbing to one thing or another. Most lilu have lived over ten thousand years, some many more; and a great insight into life and its purpose can be had from such beings.

While there are those select lilu who consider their unending lives to be a curse, others who consider it a blessing; and still others who simply don't care on way or the other, who are too busy partying and wasting away the years in their drinks to bother with philosophical matters. Some lilu have elected to sleep away a millenium or two, to be reawoken when things get "interesting", while some elected to venture to the Abyss and serve alongside their mother Lilith. Nizarah herself seems to utterly enjoy life, despite by all accounts being someone who has "seen and done everything"; another interesting example is Halam Vol, who typically allows himself to age to a point as he masquerades as countless mortal aliases. He considers such an act to be the key to keeping life interesting, experiencing new things with each "life" he choses to lead. And on another extreme example is Vedral Tir, who perpetually leads the life of a rich, young playboy surrounded by beautiful women. According to Damal a fair number of lilu follow Vedral's example, for obvious reasons.

Nizarah proposed that "one of mortal man's biggest limitations is actually trying to find a purpose for life, and then feeling anxiety over discovering a lack of such purpose"; she sees no higher purpose to her life than the one she has chosen for herself, and the value she holds in the hearts of her husband, children, other lilu siblings, and even locals that frequent the unassuming public library that sits above her vast archives. Further, she offered that "if one gets bored with life they don't know how to live in the first place". When asked if she ever felt there needed to be an end to existence, Nizarah responded that the end is the only thing she truly fears; that someday, "I'll have to give those thousands of years back". The sorceress did not further elaborate on what she meant.

Last edited by Soban on Tue May 27, 2008 6:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

Is there any reason why the lilu are naturally more intelligent than humans, given that their actual heritage is more or less the same - both humans and lilu were fathered by Adam. In any case, having a higher IQ does not make one a walking repository of knowledge; I would epect the reason behind that to be the fact that they're all really old, so they have ages to learn and memorise stuff. If I had sixty thousand years to study history, I am certain I would be more knowledgeable on that topic than any genius you care to mention.

Apart from that, it's pretty interesting. I've never really been fond of the whole 'Lilith mythology', though it's done well here.

FEEL THESE GUNS ARCHWIND THESE ARE THE GUNS OF THE FLESHY MESSIAH THE TOOLS OF CREATION AND DESTRUCTION THAT WILL ENACT THE LAW OF MAN ACROSS THE UNIVERSE

Ford Prefect wrote:Is there any reason why the lilu are naturally more intelligent than humans, given that their actual heritage is more or less the same - both humans and lilu were fathered by Adam. In any case, having a higher IQ does not make one a walking repository of knowledge; I would epect the reason behind that to be the fact that they're all really old, so they have ages to learn and memorise stuff. If I had sixty thousand years to study history, I am certain I would be more knowledgeable on that topic than any genius you care to mention.

Thanks for the commentary as always, Ford. That's a really good point, and I let out a "d'oh" at seeing such a mistake pointed out, although that's what makes commentary so helpful. I don't catch every mistake I make.

Yes, I would say it's more a factor of age than actual mental capacity. That makes a lot more sense. I guess in my head I justified it because of the idea that they might start to forget things after a few thousand years (don't our brains overwrite old memories after they reach "capacity"?), but in the end there isn't any real justification for super smarts.

Since it's written in an in-universe perspective (pinned by the fictional Doctor William Tarek, who I still need to make a bio for), I probably won't edit it out and just attribute it to him being mistaken; though in my mind I'm definitely taking your thoughts into account and dumping the whole "super INT" thing.

Apart from that, it's pretty interesting. I've never really been fond of the whole 'Lilith mythology', though it's done well here.

Thanks. Yeah, it's not a favorite of most people who are into mythology, which is quite understandable. A lot of material on the myth, such as the Alphabet of Ben Sirah, seems batantly sexist and, like the Bible, has you rooting for the "bad guy", Lilith in this case.

Soban wrote:Yes, I would say it's more a factor of age than actual mental capacity. That makes a lot more sense. I guess in my head I justified it because of the idea that they might start to forget things after a few thousand years (don't our brains overwrite old memories after they reach "capacity"?), but in the end there isn't any real justification for super smarts.

Sort of, yeah. You might have them imprint their memories on physical objects so as to store them for long periods of time. Kind of like Dumbeldore's Penseive, though more akin to the Gatekeeper's horns from Schlock Mercenary.

Thanks. Yeah, it's not a favorite of most people who are into mythology, which is quite understandable. A lot of material on the myth, such as the Alphabet of Ben Sirah, seems batantly sexist and, like the Bible, has you rooting for the "bad guy", Lilith in this case.

Actually, since you mentioned the Alphabet of Ben Sirah, would you mind explaining the punishment that God meted out to Lilithh and her children? i got a bit confused as the whole 'children' and 'descendents' thing.

FEEL THESE GUNS ARCHWIND THESE ARE THE GUNS OF THE FLESHY MESSIAH THE TOOLS OF CREATION AND DESTRUCTION THAT WILL ENACT THE LAW OF MAN ACROSS THE UNIVERSE

Ford Prefect wrote:Sort of, yeah. You might have them imprint their memories on physical objects so as to store them for long periods of time. Kind of like Dumbeldore's Penseive, though more akin to the Gatekeeper's horns from Schlock Mercenary.

That's definitely a cool idea.

Actually, since you mentioned the Alphabet of Ben Sirah, would you mind explaining the punishment that God meted out to Lilithh and her children? i got a bit confused as the whole 'children' and 'descendents' thing.

I'm pretty sure the Alphabet said that the punishment was for 100 of Lilith's children to be killed daily. However, that simply wasn't practical for my 'verse, so I attributed it to "miswording" and had it reversed so that her one hundred children were killed daily. Works since they're immortals, and come back to life afterward like The Nameless One.

Lilith herself didn't seem to be given punishment as I recall, though I think the Alphabet mentions her making infants sick, and a magic amulet invoking the angels Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof was supposed to ward her off until the babe was circumcized. Incidentally those were the angels that supposedly killed a hundred of her children a day. Crazy stuff.

I somewhat expanded on the second post about physiology, and after much thought decided to remove all supernatural abilities except for total immortality. I don't see the thematic need for those additional abilities when many lilu utilize magic to begin with. The lilu's status as "true immortals" makes for very interesting thematic possibilities to begin with, without straying into the territory of wanktastic powers.

This also seperates the lilu from other "worldbound" magical beings that have innate powers while still being killable, such as the crones and elementals I want to make articles on in the future.